Dublin, Cork City and Norwood's Irish History

Over the course of the past week I have been reading quite a bit about Irish legend and folklore. It all started in the name helping Joey build a leprechaun trap. I learned that the leprechaun stands three feet tall and is a tricky little shoemaker who stashes away all of his money. The only way to catch a leprechaun and his legendary pot of gold is to listen for the faint sound of the hammering of his shoe-making. Legend says, if you promise to set the leprechaun free, he in turn will promise to take you to his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

But the sneaky, rosy-cheeked fellow always finds a way to get a mere human to look away as he grabs his pot of gold and dashes out of sight in the blink of an eye.  

With all of this talk about Irish legend and folklore, my mother reminded of a story she heard when I was younger - there was a time when parts of Norwood were broken into the counties of Ireland.

Being , I thought what better time to set off on an excursion to find out the truth (and feed my inquisitive mind). I would like to thank Jenna Hecker, research librarian at the Norwood Library, Patricia Fanning, author of Norwood: A History, and various friends in town who provided me with stories and information to help pull together the pieces of this story.

Picture a time when the streets of Norwood were unpaved dirt roads, horse-drawn carriages were the main form of transportation down Washington St., and the railroad, an exciting new addition to the town (now the Commuter Rail), was finally complete. Families were emigrating from Ireland because of the devastating potato famine with the hopes of finding work and establishing a home for their families in Norwood. Though there was work at the local factories, housing was scarce.

“There was rather remarkable chain migration of families from Ireland to Norwood," according to Fanning. Irish, predominantly from the coast of South Connemara, “...emigrated not just to America, but to Norwood in particular.”  

Fanning also tells of another "Irish legend." When the Old Steam Mill at the corner of Washington and Guild Streets became vacant, Aaron Guild converted the building into temporary housing for the Irish families. "Both floors of the building were divided into 12-by-12-foot rooms, lighting was from whale oil lamps, bucket-well provided water...for several families," Fanning writes.

After a few years of consistent hard work, determination and a commitment to helping one another, the Norwood Irish, with familiar names such as Pendergast and Oldham, moved out of Guild's temporary housing and built cottage-style homes of their own. These homes still line Railroad Ave and the neighboring streets today.

With a strong internal community already established the Norwood Irish settled together, developing  a community of their own - Dublin and Cork City.

Dublin and Cork City ran along Railroad Ave and around the neighboring streets, at Washington St. Dublin was the area west of Railroad Ave. - from St. Catherine’s School up to and around Shurfine Market. Cork City ran east of Railroad Ave beginning around what is now the Shamrock Pub and neighboring side streets down to and around Pleasant St.

Drive through Dublin and Cork City in the early and mid 1900’s and you would notice many of the familiar Irish names we hear in town today - Keddy, Fulton, Folan, Kelley and O’Brien, Lydon, Pendergrast, Callahan and Flaherty, O’Connor, O’Toole, O’Connell and Oldham, just to name a few.

And as word traveled to family members in Ireland about the closeness and support of the neighborhoods of Dublin and Cork City in Norwood, many more Irish immigrated not only to America but specifically to Norwood. After all, everyone wants to be with family.  
 
I decided to I take a drive around Dublin and Cork City. I noticed simple white lace curtains adorning the windows of the houses today. Subtle Irish décor, simple brass Claddagh door knockers and deep green shutters line the streets of Dublin and Cork City today.

As a child I rode my bike down Railroad Ave to visit friends or walked to school at St. Catherine’s. Even today, I turn off Railroad Ave and cross Fulton almost daily to visit my grandmother, never aware I was in the middle of history – and Dublin.

I took a ride to Shurfine Market - THE grocery store in Dublin in the early and mid 1900’s. As I pulled into the parking lot and looked at the worn sharmocks on the side of the building I was reminded of the many, many times my mother and I stopped in this store when I was a child. I crossed Washington St. and entered Cork City. Off to my right The Irish Heaven barroom is still tucked away next the Light Department. I wondered how many stories are forever engrained in the walls of that little house. As I crossed the tracks- a train we take for granted - I thought of a time when the railroad was brand new and provided jobs and a means of transportation for so many of the Irish to get work at the factories so they could eventually move from Aaron Guild’s housing complex to the houses in the neighborhoods we see today, houses some of us may live in.

As I drove along Railroad Ave, I looked down Monroe Street toward the Callahan School. I visited these neighborhoods so many times during my child and teenage years. Many of my friend's parents were of direct Irish descent and still live in these neighborhoods. Yet, in all those years I never realized the heritage, history and meaning of this small community within our larger town.

I could not possibly write about Dublin and Cork City in the way those of you who lived here during the time could. I can’t write about it from the perspective of a historian. But I can write about the rich history of these two neighborhoods as a person with an Irish heritage, who grew up in Norwood and is very proud to uncover something else so unique about our little town.

I am sure there are a multitude of stories and facts I am missing. It is my hope you will share your stories of Dublin and Cork City with me, and the other readers.

I came across a quote from an Irish scholar conducting research, apparently when she asked the Irish if they have been to Dublin a common answer was, "I haven't been that far, but I've been to Norwood."